[0:00] Galatians 4 verse 31 and Galatians 5 verse 1. Paul writing to the church at Galatia says this, So then brethren, we are not children of a bond woman, but of the free woman.
[0:16] It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
[0:26] Let me read that first verse in chapter 5 to you again. It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
[0:38] Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you so much for this morning. God, we thank you for the worship which we've already been able to offer and the lifting up of our voices in song. Lord, the giving of our offerings and tithes.
[0:50] Lord, we thank you for the fellowship which we've already enjoyed. But Lord, as we come to the portion where we open up your word and Lord, looking at even just a small part of it, God, we know there's so much power there.
[1:00] I pray, oh God, through the power and presence of your spirit that you would speak to each heart and each mind. That the truth would grip us. Lord, that we would be moved to a life of faithful living for your glory.
[1:13] That you would shape us and mold us just from this small portion of scripture. That we would become more like you. So that your name would be made great everywhere around us. And we ask it all in Jesus' name.
[1:24] Amen. You may be seated. This morning, I want you to look with me, if you will, at the freedom of grace. The freedom of grace. Paul is writing the book of Galatians to the church at Galatia.
[1:37] I know we've heard it so many times, but it's worth repeating as we make our way through it. Trying to defend grace over law. He is really contradicting. He has taken four chapters in contradicting what law looks like, legalism, and what grace looks like.
[1:52] Now these people had come to faith in Jesus Christ through grace alone. They had accepted him as their Lord and Savior. They were excited about salvation. And Paul left because Paul was not a long-term pastor.
[2:05] Paul was a church planner. He would start churches. He would raise up pastors and elders. And then he would move on to the next city. But after he left, other people came in behind him and said, Oh, well, it's great that you believed in Jesus through grace and faith.
[2:18] And it's great that you accepted Jesus, but now you need to do these things as well. They began to add to the gospel. That is a very dangerous territory. And Paul is writing to them, encouraging them to stay true to the true gospel.
[2:32] To stay correct in their thinking and their doctrine. It is nothing else that you can do. You don't have to do anything to earn it. You don't have to do anything to maintain it. And you don't have to do anything to ensure it. It is by faith in Christ alone.
[2:43] It is grace. And that is essential to our salvation. It is essential to our walk because this is the avenue that Satan uses to cause so many of us to stumble. And Paul here is writing to that church at Galatia.
[2:57] And he gives all these principles. And if you remember in the last part of chapter 4, if you were here last week, he gave this great picture of the Old Testament of the two sons of Abraham. One was of works.
[3:08] We know that one, the son of Hagar, right? Abraham worked for that one. And we saw that as he worked for that one, we saw the outcome of that. The other one was of promise or grace.
[3:19] It was a gift that he didn't earn because he was as good as dead. Sarah's womb was as good as gone. And she yet still had a child. And we see this. And we see the difference in this picture of the Old Testament.
[3:31] And now we transition. He is going from giving the defense to the application. And the very first thing he introduces in chapter 5 by way of application is this thing called freedom.
[3:42] It is the freedom of grace. And it is this thing that I could not get over. And we really see, and in some scriptures, some of the oldest manuscripts, they tie verse 31 together with verse 1 of chapter 5.
[3:53] And that's why I read them together because it is one thought and in one process. And we understand it says, So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. It was for freedom that Christ set us free.
[4:05] Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. I want you to see three truths this morning from the freedom of grace. We may be quick.
[4:16] I don't know. But we'll hopefully make it through all three of them because they're all so important. Number one, I want you to see the person of freedom. The person of freedom.
[4:26] He starts in verse 31. He says, So then, brethren, and I want you to understand with me, if you will, this is an issue of the redeemed. Don't let anyone tell you, because we're going to read portions later on in chapter 5, where he says that you have separated yourself from the grace of Christ, and you've cut yourself off from Christ.
[4:43] And don't let anyone tell you that they lost their salvation. Don't let anyone tell you that they weren't saved to begin with. Because over and over and over again, Paul refers to them as the brethren. He is writing to the redeemed.
[4:53] He's writing to what we would call the church. Right? Those who know Jesus Christ. Those who accepted Christ. Friend, listen to me. This truth, freedom, belongs to the redeemed. It belongs to those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
[5:09] This is not something that is just blanketed across all the world. Rather, it is a truth that belongs to a group of people in particular. And Paul says, Therefore, brethren, We are not children of a bondwoman.
[5:21] We're looking at the person of freedom. Right? We're not children of a bondwoman, but of a free woman. All of a sudden, we're introduced to a reality which we all know. The truth is this.
[5:32] What? None of us, no man, no woman, has the power or the right to choose who their parent will be. Now, we may say, Well, I don't like my parents.
[5:43] And you say, Well, tough. Because you don't have the freedom to choose. Let's just be real here. We're all parents, right? There have been plenty of times, I'm sure my kids hasn't liked me as a parent. And I was like, Good.
[5:55] It just happens every now and then. Right? We don't have the ability to choose who our parents are. You say, Well, we come by the way of adoption.
[6:05] And I chose to be adopted by God. Well, even at that point, You don't have the ability to choose Because you are dependent upon the adoptive parent to adopt you. Right? You may say, I want them to be.
[6:16] Or I would like for them to be. But you don't get to be until that person says you can be. Right? We do not have the ability to choose. Paul is speaking to the redeemed.
[6:27] And he's introducing us to the person of freedom. He says, You have been born. And being born, You did not get to choose. There, all of a sudden, We are met with this reality. It is nothing we did.
[6:39] Right? We need to understand that. Jesus says, A man cannot enter heaven unless he be born again. He told that to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 in the middle of the night. Right? And Nicodemus was concerned about that.
[6:51] He said, Well, Can I enter again into my mother's womb and be born a second time? And Jesus said, It has nothing to do with you, Nicodemus. You don't have to go anywhere. You can do everything you want to do. You don't get to choose when you are born or where you are born.
[7:04] Or to whom you are born. So now, all of a sudden, we understand freedom. Friend, listen to me. It has nothing to do with us.
[7:17] If you are the redeemed, you need to understand this. It has nothing to do with us. It was for freedom that what? Christ has set us free.
[7:28] I want you to stand amazed, first of all, at the person of freedom. We are free because of Christ.
[7:39] I know that sounds so simple. And this is where I'm hesitant at times to preach such simple messages. But aren't you thankful for the simple? Because when I came to faith in Jesus Christ, it was through the simple.
[7:53] Christ has set me free. Just think about that. You say, well, yeah, we say that all the time. I know, do more than say it. Think on it.
[8:05] Meditate upon it. Christ has set me free. It has nothing to do with me.
[8:17] The person of freedom is not me. I am the person who is free. The person of freedom is Jesus Christ. I am free because he told me I'm free. I am free because he made me free.
[8:29] I am free because he set me free. Oh, friend, listen to me. This is a weight we need to get off of our shoulders. It is not dependent. It is not for us. We cannot earn it.
[8:39] We cannot attain it. We simply receive it. And it is the glory of freedom that comes to us by way of a gift, not by way of an earning. And now all of a sudden, Satan begins to lose his power because Satan says, you're not free.
[8:54] You still need to do this and you do that and you need to do this. And you say, wait a minute, Satan. I'm not free because I think I'm free. I'm not free because I want to be free. I'm free because he, with a capital H, set me free.
[9:06] And Satan, last time I checked, he defeated death, hell, and the grave and you, by the way. Satan, last time I checked, the greatest tool you have in your arsenal is death. And Jesus died and was dead three days and came back to life, busted the tomb wide open.
[9:19] Last time I checked, you have no authority over him. Last time I checked, you don't get to decide what he does. He decides what you do. And all of a sudden, we realize that we are not free because we want to be free.
[9:33] We are free because he sets us free. And my friend, listen to me. That makes a difference. It makes all the difference in the world. And we're looking at this thing called legalism.
[9:47] We're looking at this thing called rules and regulation of, do I have to do this and do I have to do that? We need to focus not on what we need to do, but on what he has done. We are born of the free woman, but we don't get to decide that.
[10:01] We are born because he called us to himself to be reborn. The person of freedom is Jesus Christ. Number two, I want you to see the purpose of freedom. We are free because Christ has set us free.
[10:13] Again, this is a church issue. This is a brethren issue. This has to do with the redeemed. I just want to stop right here. If you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Let me just rephrase it. If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, then you are not free.
[10:28] Okay? So this is not a doctrine for you. If you have not been bought by the blood of the Lamb, if you have not surrendered your life and given control to Him, then freedom is not yours.
[10:38] But I want to show you that the freedom is not found in you, it's found in Him. Now, if God has set us free through His Son, and we read it says, Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross because of the glory and the joy on the other side of the cross, if God has went to such great extents to set us free, the question remains to be asked, Why are we free?
[11:02] Have you ever thought about that? Why am I free? If He has set me free, then the big question is, Why? And I love the fact that the Scripture is very clear here. Again, do not let the simplicity of it blow by you because it is the very simplicity of it that kept me off guard.
[11:20] It says right here, It tells you why Christ sets you free. It was for, What does it say? Freedom. That Christ has set us free.
[11:31] You know why Jesus set you free? You're going to think I'm being kind of lazy here. Christ set you free so that you would be free.
[11:45] You say, well, and? Yep. It was for freedom that Christ set us free.
[11:57] The whole reason He set you free is so that you may be free. Think about that just for a minute.
[12:10] Man loves, we need to be careful here, man loves to give someone else the responsibility.
[12:21] Tell me what I need to do. Tell me what I don't need to do. Tell me how I need to live. Give me a list of do's and don'ts. Man really just loves to have all these lists, these rules, these requirements.
[12:35] Because we find comfort in that. We find security in the fact that somebody else told us what to do, so that's somebody else's responsibility, right? So if I mess up or if I fall short, it's not my fault.
[12:47] I'm doing the best that I can do. I'm doing what they told me to do. And I can't help it, but that's, you know, we think that there's freedom in rules and we think that there's freedom in standards. Really, that's bondage, right?
[12:58] That holds us captive. The Bible says that Christ has set us free so that we would be free. Free to live the life that God has called us to live. Free to enjoy the things that God has called us to enjoy.
[13:09] Free to love the way God has called us to love. Now, this does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want to do. Careful here. Okay? God did not set you free through his son, Jesus Christ, so that you could do more work for him.
[13:24] Now, stay with me. God did not set you free so that you could do the things that he had called you to do that you could not do before you were free. God did not set you free so that he could get your tithe and your offering.
[13:35] God did not set you free so that all of a sudden now you can pray and you need to feel guilty if you don't pray. Those things come not as a purpose of freedom, but as a result of freedom, right?
[13:46] Because I am free, I do the things I used to not do. Because I am free, I do things that I used to could not do. Because I am free, I do give my tithes and offering.
[13:57] Because I am free, I do want to prayer. Tony Evans calls it, I'm living the want to life and the get to life, not the have to life. It's a big difference, right? I am not doing these things because I have to, I am doing these things because I get to.
[14:12] We are set free simply so that we can be free, but that does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want to. Another great illustration that Tony Evans uses, and I love it because it pertains to the sports arena, and I have heard him use it a number of times, he says a football player on the football field is free to do what he wants to do within the bounds of the game.
[14:32] As long as you are within the bounds of the game, those who watch sports, you are not free to rip another player's helmet off and hit him in the head with it, right? That happened this week. You are not free to yank a quarterback's helmet off, hit the quarterback in the head, and then go on like nothing happened.
[14:46] You are free not to play the rest of the year because you stepped outside the bounds of the game. Now that mattered to me because we had two sons that were quarterbacks. That would have really upset this old daddy, but it didn't happen. So we understand.
[14:57] He uses the illustration. He said if a wide receiver running across the field gets a pass thrown to him and he catches it, he is free to run all over that field in any way he wants to. If he wants to run backwards, he can run backwards.
[15:08] If he wants to run side to side, he can run side to side. But what he cannot do is he cannot run out of bounds, avoid a defender, run through the stands, run out of the stadium, come back in the tunnel of the stadium, and go stand in the end zone and act like he scored a touchdown because he has stepped outside the bounds of the game.
[15:27] God has set boundaries for us. That is his holiness and his standard, and now we are free in Christ to live out those boundaries.
[15:37] That's why I said, listen, friend, you come to me and say, well, pastor, should I do this? Should I do that? And pastor, is it okay if I do this? Or I want to find a book that says, is it okay if I do this? If you find a book that tells you what you can and cannot do in Christ, do me a favor and throw that book away.
[15:54] Because I'm going to tell you, you are free to do in Christ whatever Christ allows you to do. And if you can do those things in Christ, I'm not saying in yourself, I'm saying in Christ, then you are free to live that way in Christ.
[16:13] You say, well, how do I know if I can do it in Christ? Well, I've got one book you can get. It's a surefire way. It's guaranteed to be accurate. It's called the Bible. So if you come to me and you say, and I say, well, can you do those things in Christ?
[16:27] Well, yes, I can do those things in Christ. Well, can you support it scripturally? Well, not really. I can't really support it scripturally. Then you're not doing it in Christ. Right? Because from Genesis to Revelations, we find what Jesus would do and what he did do while walking the face of the earth.
[16:41] And if in here, you say, well, there's a lot of gray areas in Scripture. Right? Because God does not want robots. He wants a relationship. And he wants you to be in communion with him. And he wants you to love him and to adore him.
[16:52] And if you can love your Savior and do the things you are doing with a devout love for the Savior, then, my friend, you're free to run within the bounds. Because Christ has set you free so that you may be free.
[17:09] Not so that you could be dependent upon anyone else. Not so that you could be dependent upon what people tell you to do. Though you should be around other people because iron sharpens iron. We understand that. But the purpose of your freedom is that you would be free.
[17:23] Because being free allows you to do things free from self-concern. You know why? If you're set free in Christ, all of a sudden you're free to love?
[17:36] Because you're no longer thinking so much about yourself and what it is you need to do. You can think about others and what you need to do for them. No longer are you thinking about yourself and how you need to maintain and earn your salvation.
[17:46] You're thinking about others and how much you care and you're concerned for them. You cannot love and you cannot live according to the calling that God has on your life until you are living in freedom.
[17:57] Number three, we see not only the person of freedom, we see the purpose of freedom and number three, from this verse, we see the power of freedom. One of the most powerful things in all the world is freedom.
[18:13] One of the scariest things in all the world is freedom. We see here the power of freedom. It says, therefore, what's therefore? It was for freedom that Christ has set you free.
[18:25] Therefore, since he has set you free so that you could be free. I know it sounds kind of like a tongue twister, but it's not. It's just a great simple truth. Keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
[18:39] Here we see the power of freedom. Freedom alone and freedom correctly and properly understood is that thing which empowers us to stand firm.
[18:51] That means if someone comes to me and says, you shouldn't do this or you shouldn't do that, it is being free in Christ and empowers me to stand firm in the convictions I have in Christ. One of the greatest stories I've ever heard of this is the great evangelist D.L. Moody.
[19:05] D.L. Moody was a great evangelist in America. I started Moody Bible Church in Chicago and the Moody College up there, though it wasn't called Moody, it was called something else at that time.
[19:16] They named it after him after he died, but Moody used to do great work. As a matter of fact, D.L. Moody traveled in this area as he was there traveling with the troops of the Union War during the Civil War, but he was there working with them.
[19:29] But he never was officially ordained and licensed as a pastor, so he never pastored the church he started. He always called in the other pastors. But D.L. Moody was a man of great renown, and when he went to Europe to do his, one of the first worldwide tours, he was so excited because he was in England, and for the first time, he was going to get to meet Charles Spurgeon.
[19:52] Now, Charles Spurgeon was the England contemporary of D.L. Moody. What Moody was in America, Spurgeon was, well, just in the rest of the world. He was the prince of preachers. And Moody went and knocked on Spurgeon's door, and I might have told you this, but it's such a great story.
[20:05] It helps us to understand this. Moody walked up, and he found out where Spurgeon lived. He knocked on Spurgeon's door, and when Charles Spurgeon opened the door, he had a big fat cigar in his mouth and was puffing on that cigar.
[20:16] D.L. Moody stepped back, and he said, I cannot believe a man of God such as you would smoke a cigar. Now, for those who know Spurgeon, Spurgeon was one who was pretty quick on his feet.
[20:28] And Spurgeon poked Moody in his belly, which he was a pretty plump individual, and said, and I cannot believe a man of God such as you would be such a glutton. Moody said, I like food.
[20:41] Spurgeon said, I like cigars. And they had a great fellowship. Now, Spurgeon once said, if I didn't think it was too unbecoming, I would smoke two cigars at a time.
[20:54] Now, this is before people understood. Now, Spurgeon died pretty early, okay? So let's not overlook that reality. Health wasn't that good in London at that time. They would take off for about two months at a time because they were getting more air pollution from the smog in London than there were the cigars they were smoking.
[21:09] I know it's a different time in health, and people are going to come to me and say, oh, Pastor, wait a minute. What I want you to understand is you got two men greatly used of the Lord, and both of them were free to be used of the Lord, and in their freedom they stood firm.
[21:27] Somebody could call something out and they would say, listen, I am free in Christ. It says, therefore stand firm.
[21:37] One of the greatest powers of freedom, friend, listen to me. If you know who you are in Christ, this is why your relationship with Jesus Christ is so important. This is why your time in the Word is so important.
[21:50] If you know who you are in Jesus Christ, if you know what Christ has called you to do, what He's equipped you to do, what He's given you the freedom to do, then it doesn't matter who stands before you and raises an accusation against you.
[22:04] you have the freedom to stand firm. The Bible says, to His own Lord He stands or falls. Now that does not mean we shouldn't reprove and rebuke and correct one another.
[22:19] If you see me doing something which you know is an egregious sin, that means the Bible very clearly says I shouldn't do it. You need to come to me and say, don't do that, pastor. And if I look at you and say, well, I'm free in Christ to do that, say, no, you're not because in Scripture it says you shouldn't do that.
[22:33] Right? That doesn't mean you let me do whatever I want to do. But there are some things that I may do that offend. Paul says, I like meat. He said, it offends some people.
[22:46] I like steak. I'm going to eat it. I like pork chops. I'm going to eat it. He said, but, if it offends them, I'm not going to eat it because I'm going to look out for my weaker brother. But listen, he said, stand firm.
[22:57] The power of freedom is it allows you to stand firm. He says, therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Here's the greatest picture of freedom.
[23:09] Freedom alone allows you not only to stand firm when other people accuse you, but allows you to resist the repeated attempts of re-enslavement.
[23:21] when you were purchased off the auction block of sin, Jesus Christ paid for you with His blood. He redeemed you. And He did not buy you from yourself. Okay?
[23:31] Follow me. You didn't put yourself up for auction. He bought you from your master who is the devil. And by the way, that master does not like the fact you don't belong to Him anymore.
[23:46] So He repeatedly comes back and tries to tell you you need to do this, you need to do that, don't do this. And He tries to enslave you. Sometimes He tries to enslave you with sin.
[23:57] Those things which trip you up. Those things which used to hold on to you that would never let go. He had you by the chains of sin. Those things you know you shouldn't do. I'm saying, it's not that you're free to do them in Christ.
[24:09] As a matter of fact, in Christ, you're convicted because you do them. But the only way you'll ever be free from them is if you know that He has set you free. If you wonder or doubt at that freedom, you keep going back to them because that's the chain that is comfortable.
[24:22] We like those chains. We may not like the result of it, but we like it. It doesn't make sense, but we like it because it's comfortable. We know how to act within that, right? One of the greatest tragedies of all humanity is when people have been set free and been liberated, they go back to enslavement because they like the comforts of enslavement.
[24:40] And that's what sin is to us. It's familiar. We know that Jesus has called us from it, but when we don't really understand how free we are from it, when Satan offers it, we go back to it. But we don't have to do that.
[24:51] The other way He tries to enslave you is through rules and regulations we call legalism. Do this, do this, do this, do this, and you'll make God happy. My friend, listen to me, there's nothing you can do that'll make God happy because He's already happy with you.
[25:08] Let's just let that sink in for a minute. If you give 100% of your money away, God is not more pleased with you as if you just believe in Jesus Christ and you're broke, bankrupt, don't have anything to give.
[25:21] Now if you want to give it because you feel like the Lord has called you to give it, then praise be to God, let God work through you. But there's nothing you can do that's going to make God more pleased with you. There's nothing you can do that's going to make God more receptive of you because He says, I've already done it all.
[25:39] And when you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are accepted. That freedom, the reality of that freedom sets you free from the sin that enslaves you and the legalism that trips you.
[26:01] And now all of a sudden, you're living the want-to life, not the have-to life. I want to hear, well done, my good and faithful servants.
[26:13] I want to hear it with all my heart. First message I preached to you guys when I came here in view of a call and I told you and I'm not ashamed that I know my country came out and my kids, I told you that when I met my Savior, I wanted a big old honking crown.
[26:28] That's exactly how I said it, to throw at His feet. I believe my word was, I don't want a Burger King paper crown, I want a big crown. And I don't want to do that because I think that I'm going to earn God's favor if I have a big crown over a paper crown.
[26:41] I do it because I think He's worth it. When He told me I was free, I know exactly how much it meant to set me free. And I want to do so much more for Him.
[26:57] I don't have to do anything. And knowing that I don't have to do anything sure does motivate me to want to do a lot. You ever told someone you have to do something and you see how they do it?
[27:13] You find someone working at a job that they have to do and they'll do it to get paid. And you find someone at that same place working at a job that they want to do and you'll find a job getting done well.
[27:29] I've done things I had to do. We all have. It's a lot funner to do things you want to do. And that's the love of God we find in Christ Jesus.
[27:43] We are free. The freedom of grace to live for His glory. Let's pray.
[27:54] Lord, I thank You so much. God, I thank You for Your grace Your mercy Your patience with us. I thank You for the love You have and You've poured out upon each one of us.
[28:06] God, I pray right now even through the weakness of this individual Lord, the moment that You've put us to that each one of us would be overwhelmed with the freedom You have given us in Christ.
[28:20] Lord, if there's some here today who don't know that freedom I pray that You would show them the beauty of it. God, our hearts go out to those who aren't with us. We know there are a number that are hurting a number that are walking through valleys.
[28:36] Lord, even in those valleys we thank You You've set them free and You're calling them to Yourself for Your glory. Lord, be with us now and speak to our hearts and our minds and we ask it all in Christ's name.
[28:48] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[29:49] Amen. Amen.
[30:49] Amen. Amen.
[31:49] Amen. Amen.
[32:49] Amen.